The insult ‘chaiwala’ has become.
A ‘chaiwala’ is a person who sells tea. That could either be in a tea stall or by carrying around a flask or a can and serving people with hot tea. India is one of the largest producer and consumer of tea, a 2014 BBC article says that the country drinks 8,37,000 tonnes of tea every year. Coincidentally, it is also the same year since when the name ‘chaiwala’ has become something of a mocking insult in the eyes of many Indians.
2014 was when India’s most famous ‘chaiwala’ became her prime minister.
Narendra Modi and his party, Bjp, has time and again used the claim that Modi once had the humble livelihood of a tea seller. This was one of their biggest tools to gain public sympathy and use the fond sentiment the country associated with chaiwalas. The Bjp won the 2014 elections in a landslide. Even now the PM never ceases to make a reference to his supposed simple former lifestyle.
Interestingly, Modi’s claim of being a chaiwala on railway platforms has never been confirmed or proven. In 2015, social activist Tehseen Poonawala filed a Right to Information (RTI) Act, to find out if Narendra Modi ever sold tea on railway platforms or trains in his youth. The RTI query response was, “No such information is available in TG III Branch of Tourism and Catering Directorate of Railway Board.”
Pravin Togadia, the infamous advocate of Hindu nationalism, who is now the head of Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP), had said that not once in 43 years of his friendship with Modi, did he ever see him sell tea. Togadia too believes the ‘chaiwala’ stories Modi recites are only to gain public sympathy.
Actual ‘chaiwalas’ are nothing like Modi is or was. They are skilled and talented at their job and unlike the PM, actually work for 18 hours a day.
Most chaiwalas are the friendliest people. They don’t differentiate among people. They won’t allow communal talks in their stalls. Instead, they try making genuine peace among people or their views.
If any of them ever became the prime minister, you can bet they’d be much better than the current one. For starters, they would never condone the spread of hate like wildfire in the country if they could do something about it.
If Mr. Modi was really a chaiwala once, did he imbibe nothing from it?
All this hasn’t stopped critics of Narendra Modi, liberals and the left wing to frequently use ‘chaiwala’ mockingly in reference to the PM. This is a lame tactic. All it does it compare hardworking, honest men who our society respects, to a man whom many consider to be a habitual liar, a ‘feku’ and a hypocrite. We must stop using ‘chaiwala’ as an insult just because ‘India’s divider-in-chief’ claims he was one.